ARRL Satellite Bulletin ARLS004 (2002)

SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS004
ARLS004 SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now available for amateur use
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Space Bulletin 004 ARLS004
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT April 9, 2002
To all radio amateurs
SB SPACE ARL ARLS004
ARLS004 SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now available for amateur use
SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now is reported open for Amateur Radio
communication. According to information received by AMSAT-NA
President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, SO-41 has been configured for FM
voice repeater operation.
Turki Al Saud, director of the Space Research Institute in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia--the satellite's sponsoring agency--told AMSAT-NA that
SO-41 will automatically enable its UHF transmitter over Saudi
Arabia and the US for approximately 20 minutes each pass. The
spacecraft reportedly is configured for Mode J, with a VHF uplink of
145.850 MHz and a UHF downlink of 436.775 MHz. The spacecraft will
operate in this mode intermittently, as power and spacecraft
experiments permit, the announcement said.
SO-41's downlink RF power is 1 W with left-hand circular
polarization. The uplink antenna--located atop the spacecraft--is
linear in polarization. Experiments and software development
continue with SaudiSat 1-B (SO-42), and that satellite is not yet
available to amateurs.
SaudiSat 1A and 1B were launched along with TIUNGSAT-1 on September
26, 2000, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aboard a converted Soviet
ballistic missile. Both satellites have been in various stages of
commissioning since then.
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